Tough action on Syria rebels threatens UK, warns ex-MI6 chief

A former senior MI6 officer has warned that Britain’s policy of prosecuting British fighters and treating them “harshly” after their return from Syria is not working and could worsen the terrorist threat to this country.

Richard Barrett, who served as MI6’s head of counter-terrorism, said the robust approach was failing to stop young Muslims travelling to join extremist rebels fighting in Syria and Iraq.

He said the threat of prosecution was likely to prolong the stay overseas of some Britons, increasing their exposure to Islamist influences, while harsh treatment handed out to those who returned was likely to have a “radicalising” impact in domestic communities.

Mr Barrett said a policy of “reintegration” should be adopted instead, in which there would be a greater focus on giving Britons returning from the fighting the chance to resume their previous normal civilian life.

His comments came during a discussion on foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq hosted in London by the counter-extremism think thank Quilliam. Police, prosecutors and ministers have warned that British residents taking part in the fighting are likely to face terrorism charges on their return, even if their actions are motivated by a desire to topple the brutal dictatorship of Syria’s president Bashar Assad.

Some critics have complained that British “freedom fighters” could join the recent Libyan uprising and the earlier Spanish Civil War without facing criminal sanctions.

Mr Barrett said: “The Government policy now seems to me to be that it’s bad to go, it’s possibly criminal to go and when you come back we will possibly prosecute you and deal with you as harshly as possible. I don’t think it’s very effective. The policy is also questionable in that all those people who go and maybe say ‘it’s not me, I want to go back’, they know they are stigmatised by the fact that they’ve been. The emphasis should be on reintegration.”

The number of Britons travelling to take part in the fighting is now estimated to stand at around 500. The number of people arrested over alleged terrorist offences relating to Syria this year already exceeds the figure for 2013.